An Everlasting Covenant

September 22, 2013 Background Scripture: Genesis 6:9 – 9:28 Lesson Passage: Genesis 9:1, 3 – 6, 8 – 17 From the beginning, God has always had a covenant with man. We sometimes refer to the first covenant as the Adamic Covenant. It contains the instructions God gave to Adam probably before Eve existed. Adam was told what to do, what to eat, and what not to eat. After Adam’s fall from grace because he disobeyed the first covenant, God gave a second covenant to Adam, Eve, and the serpent. We refer to this as the Edenic Covenant. Among the stipulations in it were the hardships that mankind would endure just to survive and propagate the human race. Although human hardships were assured—including physical death—the promise of redemption was also an aspect of this covenant. There was also a promise of future judgment against the serpent and its offspring. Today, we take a look at the third covenant. This one we refer to as the Noahic Covenant. This covenant was given to Noah and his family after the world had been judged by the great flood. The devastation of this divine judgment left only eight human souls alive in the world—and perhaps even traumatized. The Noahic Covenant began with a blessing from God and the command for them to procreate and again fill the earth with people. The animals would now become wildlife and have a fear of man. Perhaps prompting this fear or dread was the provision that man would now be carnivorous and add the flesh of animals to his diet. Prior to this covenant, the only diet that God had presented to man in the scriptures was vegetarian. This covenant also provided the wonderful promise that neither all of mankind nor beast would ever have to fear a repeat of a divine judgment by flood waters. The seal of this promise would be the display of a rainbow in the sky after the rains are done. This provision would continue perpetually through all generations. After the Noahic Covenant, there would be at least four more covenants between God and man but the provisions of this covenant would continue even in the light of the other covenants. The provisions of this covenant are everlasting as long as people continue to procreate and bring forth into this world new human life. The hardships of the Edenic Covenant were not taken away but rather implicitly included in this one. On the other hand, Noah and his family no longer had to fear clouds nor rain. Those would continue to come but they would always be cut short of total devastation of the earth. No doubt the Great Flood was a traumatic experience and there was a need for an everlasting provision in this covenant so that mankind’s relationship with God could be one of reverence and love rather than fear and torment. The rainbow is a remainder of that provision. Thank God that it wasn’t just for the eight souls and the groups of animals rescued from the flood in Noah’s days. Even today, we experience devastating storms that often bring tremendous floods and sometimes trauma. But they are limited in their scope because of the provisions of this everlasting covenant. Robert C. Hudson September 11, 2013